Would you load this, part 2

[CLT65]

OK, I need a disclaimer right at the top, since the last time I did this a few people misunderstood. Perhaps I should ask, "Could you load this if you really needed to?"
No, I would not normally load these. They would go directly into my scrap bucket, if I even bothered picking them up. No, I don't recommend using junk. This is really just an academic exercise.

The idea came up when a friend and I were at the range. We were picking up some brass, and he made a comment something along the lines of how if the ammo panic keeps up, and/or restrictions make it difficult to get ammo, a person might need to try to load some of the reject, garbage brass I picked up.

I said it might surprise you what you can safely load, and pointed to some severely dented 5.56 brass, and then some nasty brown, tarnished, dirty 9mm brass in the dirt. He said no way; that would blow up in your gun. OK, challenge accepted.

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[Xrperry]

Brass is pretty cheap compared to a new gun or a trip to the emergency room

 

[CLT65]

That's exactly why I put in the disclaimer. Everyone says "You'll shoot your eye out!"

There are many things that can go wrong with ammo and reloading, and I would never use brass or ammo that was structurally compromised. My point is to understand exactly what compromises brass to the point where it is dangerous.

I inspected this brass before I loaded it and determined (based on decades of tinkering and reloading) that it was not inherently unsafe to reload.

After some annealing and straightening for the rifle brass, and a ride in the wet tumbler for the 9mm, I've already loaded and fired the above brass, twice. It all fired just fine; no kabooms or malfunctions at all. No cracked necks or loose primer pockets. The loads were moderate range loads, not heavy but not particularly light either.

Here is all the above brass, on it's fourth loading:

 

[CLT65]

Like I said, just an academic exercise. Normally any imperfect brass goes straight into the scrap bucket. Brass is cheap. Mostly I just did this because a buddy said I couldn't.

 

[DizzyJ]

The 9mm no problem. The .223 would be too much damned work for me.

I want to see the steel and aluminum cased stuff reloaded.

 

[CLT65]

The 9mm no problem. The .223 would be too much damned work for me.

I want to see the steel and aluminum cased stuff reloaded.

Been there, done that- even Berdan conversions and the like. It's doable, but not worth it.

There are myriad ways of wasting time and learning useless skills. There are guys out there who even reload spent primers and .22 rimfire. Yeah, it can be done, but I'd have to be really desperate or bored to go there. But then again I suppose that's what most of you all are already thinking about me.

 

[JuglansRegia]

I found an old .44 mag shell while out shooting years ago. I tumbled it with 3-4 batches of other brass before it got added to the rotation, its still kind of dark but it didn't start off all mangled. Next time I shoot that box of ammo it will be hard to miss.

 

[FA9]

I call bs on the rifle brass, what kind of wizardry is this?

 

[Capn Jack]

Brass is cheap. Why push the envelope?

 

[CLT65]

I thought someone would find it hard to believe, so I took photos of each step.

The first step was to anneal the necks so they wouldn't crack when I straightened them out. I straightened them as best I could so the decapping rod would enter, and the brass would fit into the sizing die. Then I trimmed, loaded, and fired them.

Some would say that it's unsafe because of reduced case volume, but that's not true. What really counts is chamber volume, as the brass will expand to fill the chamber. The second photo is the straightened brass before firing. The third is after the next firing, fireformed to the chamber.

Brass is cheap. Why push the envelope?

Why do anything? Because I can!

 

[Member 5605]

Send em all down range.

All bad brass through my presses or that I fumblefold get crimped at the base across the body. They are then impossible to ever straighten out and damaged beyond any questionable recover or remanufacture.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Interesting.
So this is the infamous "brass" that I keep reading and hearing about...None of my guns use things like that...
( Just kidding here )

Neat experiment...Just pay attention and don't get too carried away with "can I do this..? "
Andy

 

[WillametteWill]

There are myriad ways of wasting time and learning useless skills.

Since the advent of the internet, truer words have not been spoken.

 

[s1xty7]

Why do I feel like this could easily become a "Hold my beer . . ." moment?

Good job though!

 

[Member 5605]

Since the advent of the internet, truer words have not been spoken.

So you too have been browsing Youtube late at night and by the end of the binge, you are now fluent in Giraffe?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has had that happen.

 

[crstrode]

When reloading components are simply not available at any price (for whatever reason), scavenged "junk" is worth its weight in gold.

Literally.

 

[CLT65]

Just pay attention and don't get too carried away with "can I do this..? "

Been there, done that too.

Like I said, this was really just an academic exercise to prove a point to a friend. It wasn't a foolhardy stunt. I knew what I was doing, based on previous years of not knowing what I was doing, and learning what you can and cannot get away with. I didn't post this to try and say that you can do anything you want without regard to safety. My point is only that little dents and dings in your brass are really not a big deal, so long as the case is not structurally compromised otherwise. If you're not sure how to look for structural damage, then you are better off just scrapping anything that looks questionable at all.

I've seen people throw away ammo and brass over the years, just because it had a little dent or ding. That's fine- better safe than sorry, but in most cases it's not necessary. The critical areas in reality are headspace and the cartridge base. The base is hard and strong; if you were to anneal the whole case, the base would be weakened and blow out. The shoulder and neck needs to be soft so it can expand and seal. If it gets brittle, it will crack and leak on firing, but the base will still hold and save you and your gun from damage. I've heard of people annealing their brass, and in ignorance annealing the whole thing, and blowing up their gun. Yeah, don't do that. Softened base, incipient separation, loose primer pocket, cracks; anything like that has to be scrapped.

I like to tinker. I enjoy it so for me it's not a waste of time. Is golf, football, or fishing a waste of time? Only if you don't enjoy it. I've never damaged a gun or myself either, because I try to go about this type of thing scientifically and safely.The vast, vast majority of my reloading nowadays is by-the-book.
On second thought, I can't really say I've never damaged myself, but it was with unmodified factory ammo. 30+ years ago someone gave me some WWII surplus 30-06 AP rounds, so I thought I'd see how much steel it would penetrate, and didn't realize that you need to stand far back from your target. The hardened steel core penetrated a full inch of mild steel, and the copper jacket peeled off like a banana peel, bounced back and hit me between the eyes. Shallow cut, blood all over, and healed quickly. I learned a lesson there.